Wheel of Misfortune
by GintaxAlvissForever
Summary: When Axel was at his lowest point of his life, he honestly wanted to give up. Despite his sorrow, he encourages the last person anyone would expect to be happy… For 30 Day Disgaea Challenge.


**Wheel of Misfortune**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Disgaea 2. That belongs to Nippon Ichi. Prism and his sister are mine though. **

**Summary: When Axel was at his lowest point of his life, he honestly wanted to give up. Despite his sorrow, he encourages the last person anyone would expect to be happy…**

**Pairing: None**

**Rated: T**

**Genre: Hurt/Comfort and Friendship **

**Warning: Despair and unintentional OOC **

**For the Disgaea 30 Day Challenge (Day 8 is Axel). I'm not doing all of them FYI.**

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The Dark Hero wasn't always considered a cowardly being. The Dark Hero is what the title implied at least 2000 years ago: dark, mysterious, brooding but heroic just the same. The definition changed around that time to be redefined as an underhanded cheat, a huge liar and a coward who run away when his friends needed him the most. Having the Dark Hero title was unheard of because of this.

Yet Axel was fine with using the Dark Hero title to make it to fame. He took the title in strive actually since Axel was able to differentiate between his title and him. Other demons were too stupid to not realize that the real Axel was different than the Dark Hero title he wore on his shoulder.

When they did find out though, it was through the worse possible scenario. Axel saved his kid brother on TV instead of leaving him for dead. He loved his family too much to let anyone be killed even if he was supposed to be acting. The booing hurt but he was glad Axial was okay. His reputation though was in shambles.

After saving his brother, his fans dispersed almost immediately and as the months went on, Axel was left with only the diehards as the only people who cared about him. Constantly slandered on the demon news for his heroic actions, Axel would soon be nothing to the Netherworld except a failure who couldn't even stay in character of the Dark Hero. The entire time Axel kept a smile on his face as he constantly tried to get his audience back. He took different jobs to be noticed again and pulled the most outrageous pranks just so demons would look at him.

The Dark Hero was a pariah at this point the harder he tried. The few times he got an audience, they didn't come to listen to his music that he worked so hard to write. They came in with tomatoes, shoes, cans and other items to throw at him during the performance before they would leave without hearing it until the end. Those days were the worse where Axel just wanted to drop his cheerful façade and let his true feelings out. But he kept those feelings to himself. He didn't want his mother or his siblings to worry about him. He had to support them no matter what, so he continued to work.

It was probably around this time where Axel started to lie to himself more than he should. His lies sounded better than the truth. If he believed in his own lies, he would no longer be hurt…because that was all that was happening now.

He prepared for another performance in another portion of the Netherworld. He was certain he would reach out to people there. The demons there were outright hostile to him because by the time Axel finished putting the posters around the Netherworld to remind them of his performance, they were taken down immediately or ripped apart. He couldn't bear seeing his hard work go to waste.

By the time he attempted to perform though, he was warn out though. He wanted to give up, but again he forced himself to smile as he performed to an empty audience…or so he thought.

Looking up, he noticed there was one person that was there. It looked to be a boy of twelve years old in human years. From this distance, it was hard to tell if the boy was a human, a demon or an angel. A closer inspection could tell that he wasn't really listening to the music not because he was spiting the Dark Hero but he just seemed lost in his own thoughts that he just happened to be sitting down on a whim.

After finishing his solo performance, Axel immediately got off the stage to approach the young boy. The closer he got, the closer Axel could feel something…alien about the boy…like he wasn't from this world and that speaking to him would be like speaking to someone of higher importance.

"So, how did you like my performance?" The Dark Hero questioned the boy.

The boy suddenly snapped out of his thoughts to look up and see the older demon. His expression…how would Axel describe it. The green eyes the boy had felt detached from everything…his frown gave away to what he was feeling more than anything else that displayed on his face.

"There was…a performance? Oh yeah…there was…yeah…"

That was probably the best compliment Axel had ever gotten after the whole incident…but it just seemed like a compliment devoid of any emotion.

"So was it the lyrics that enticed you, the sound of my guitar, or were you here to look at me?"

Axel was starting to let his ego get to him again when interrogating the child. The boy just wasn't interested.

"…The butterflies told me to come here. They heard someone crying." The boy said simply. "I don't see that though…then again…you look ready to break down if I say anything negative about your performance."

Immediately, his pride shattered there as he glanced at the kid with a horrified expression. Who was he? How did he know what he was feeling on the inside? Wait, he was happy! He was incapable of feeling sad! He turned the attention to something else.

"Butterflies?"

"…Yeah. They're capable of talking."

"…But they're…not here."

"No. Too much negative energy here. Probably because of me…"

Yep this kid was definitely weird and also down in the dumps. Axel didn't mind taking a seat next to him and asking him what was wrong.

"So, what's your deal?"

"My deal?"

"If it wasn't my music or me, what could have taken you here? I definitely wasn't crying. You must have heard my music so…"

"…A fight."

_What?_

"I got into a fight." The boy repeated softly to himself as he brought his knees up in order to curl up into a ball on the spot and have the rest of his words be noting but muffles. "My little sister…I told her I didn't want her getting hurt and told her to stop her dreams…she got mad at me and told me she hated me…"

Axel grimaced as the young boy told his story. Immediately Axel felt a connection with this boy. The fear of being hated by a younger sibling and being told that everything you do for them was worthless. There was also the dread of wanting what is for the best of your sibling but hurting them in the process to do so.

"I don't know what to do. I thought of many ways to apologize but they'll come off as fake…" The young boy continued to sink into a depression the more he thought about it. "I can't let her continue her studies or she's going to suffer like I am. She's the only family I have left in this universe and I can't risk it…but I don't want to do anything if she hates me though…uhhh…I fail as a big brother."

"…Hey kid, how old are you?" Axel asked suddenly.

The boy paused when he asked the question before simply saying. "Twelve."

"How old is your sister?"

"Nine."

"…And what happened to the other adults in your life?"

"…Parents are dead…my big brother died too. We're just barely making by…"

So even this child had an older brother but circumstances killed him. Axel was not going to pry into the green eyed boy's life but he could empathize better with him now understanding where he was getting at. Perhaps he wondered to where Axel was not because of chance but maybe he just wanted to talk to someone who was in a similar situation to him. That really was stretching it though.

"…Sorry, I shouldn't be complaining about my life. You look like you're having problems having a full house."

Axel chuckled nervously looking at how no one attended his concert therefore he made no money…and this kid seemed to have just dropped in instead of actually paying for a ticket.

"N-Nah. This is just a bad day. I'll get more demons to listen to me in the next couple of weeks when things aren't so chaotic. But enough about me, we need to talk about how you'll make up with your little sister."

The boy looked up puzzled. Why would he care?

"I'm a big brother and I know what it feels like to have that feeling of your younger siblings hating you. I hate that feeling, but you know what, I would do everything in my power to make my siblings happy…"

"…Even throw away your life?"

"That's probably stretching it for someone like me, but with the mindset of doing anything for them will make you the best older brother around. You probably are with how you were putting your sister's concern over your own."

The blonde boy wasn't so sure of that. Axel smiled as he forced the boy to put his knees down so he could get a better look at the boy's face. From being emotionless to miserable, the boy really was in the slumps. Maybe what Axel was going through was nothing compared to this child despite what he described. Still…all alone in this Netherworld with no one but his little sister to turn to who he must be the strong one for…

"Hey…I may not know what is going on with your life, but trust me on this when I say that all you need to do to make up to your little sister is to talk to give a stern talk explaining your side of the story before you make a compromise. At the end of the day, you should let her do what she wants if that is what she intends to do."

"…"

Axel smirked as he got up and started to play on his guitar. "The Dark Hero is always right. The Dark Hero knows your sorrow. The Dark Hero encourages you to fight on…and when you win, come back and tell me the results."

The boy didn't move from his spot as Axel was playing a more relaxing tune with his guitar. Closing his eyes, he was able to think clearer with the melody reaching his ears. In all honestly, Axel was making this song up on the spot and it felt so out of place given his character but right now, he needed to encourage someone who was worse off than him.

"…Beautiful…" The boy mumbled listening fully to the song. "…It's sad that despite your kindness no one will appreciate you for who you are…"

"Huh?"

The frown switched to a sudden smile as he jumped up more hyperactive than what he appeared to be…then again as a twelve year old boy, this was probably a better attitude to have.

"I feel so much better now. I know what to tell her." He said with a grin as he turned to the Dark Hero. "You are a good person. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

Axel was not blushing at that compliment. Nope. Besides his mother and his siblings, no one has ever told him something like that because it was looked down upon in the Netherworld.

"I give you my promise that I will tell you the results. I must say though your misfortune is so bad. I swear that your days will get better. Good things will come to you…the best thing will come to you…just you wait…it can only go up from here."

That was so hard to believe coming from a twelve year old that just finished sulking (if he was even twelve but Axel never really thought about this boy's age and how it contradicted many things), but his words…and the tone of voice he used changed so suddenly that Axel felt like he wasn't talking to a little boy but a wise sage. That was probably just him though.

Axel's eyes widened when he suddenly saw golden butterflies appear before him and wrap themselves around the little boy for the most part. Was he a…

"The butterflies like you." He said with a smile. "And because they like you so much, all you have to do is follow them and they will create a path for you. You'll know what I'm talking about eventually."

"Hey…who are you?"

The boy smiled. "Just call me Prism. I'm just a sorcerer."

Axel was not the sharpest tool in the shed, so he wouldn't know that he just finished talking and helping out a divine being. Prism slowly disappeared with the golden butterflies until there were no traces of him at the concert. However, one butterfly stayed behind and landed on Axel's head. The Dark Hero just chuckled to himself at how something so small made him feel so important…

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**Me: Done with 2561 words.**

**Li: So this establishes the favoritism that Prism talks about in _Higanbana in the Red Moon_.**

**Me: Yep. Just kindness really and helps my headcanon on why Axel has such bad luck despite being a good person. Prism states that it can only go uphill for Axel and by uphill I simply mean that Axel will gain real friends, he will have his happy ending in Disgaea 2 and while Disgaea 4 treats him the worse, I would like to think after that game in the franchise something good will happen to my dear Axel. And remember, Prism is the Sorcerer of Misfortune (explained on my Profile) who is able to reverse someone's misfortune or give them misfortune (and he's actually shown to do the former rather than the latter even if he is a jerk). **

**Also Prism is telling half-truths here. Yes he got into a fight with his sister Cone over her becoming a powerful witch that would serve his side. He wants her to do something less dangerous but she wants to help him as the only family member left. They get into a fight over that and Prism doesn't lie about his parents or brother being dead, but how they died is something I'll keep to myself. After all, Prism is the creator of the universe right, so why does he have parents unless he's not…**

**So Axel's day is done. Reviews are appreciates. Ja ne! (To Mao and Frozen!) **


End file.
